This seat crosses the borders of the London boroughs of Bexley and Greenwich. It was created in the 1995 boundary review out of two previous seats - Erith and Crayford, and Thamesmead, formerly Woolwich.

The Woolwich seat had an interesting history. Its Labour MP John Cartwright defected to the SDP, but won the seat in 1983 and held on as an Independent SDP MP through to 1992.

Thamesmead is a large housing community built on the edge of the Thames marshes. Unemployment is fairly high at 5.8% (in January 2001).

More encouragingly there have been a spate of new housing developments springing up here recently, which are expensive and attractive to professionals working in the City.